Customized Database Tracks Outcomes and Shows Community Benefit
Friends of Youth is a nonprofit agency that provides safe places to live and emotional support for youth and young adults in challenging circumstances. The organization offers services to at-risk youth and homeless young people at 20 sites in 17 cities throughout the Puget Sound area. In 2010, Friends of Youth served over 6,000 youth and their families through four core program areas: Homeless Youth Services; Youth and Family Services; Residential Services; and Healthy Start, a program that provides home visiting services to support young parents and their babies from birth to age three.
Effectively running this spectrum of programming requires a high-functioning database that allows case management staff to track the progress of their clients, and also generate accurate reports detailing demand for services and community impact. Thanks to Youthforce, Friends of Youth’s dynamic Salesforce-based database system, the organization is now capable of effectively managing their clients’ cases and reporting on outcomes that will enable them to secure the funding they need to continue to provide critical services.
“The impact has been huge. The automated reports have saved hundreds of hours of staff time and resulted in accurate data, which is crucial to securing funding.”
- Jon Griffus, Program Information Manager
The Challenge
- Friends of Youth had no centralized database system and staff in each of their four program areas was using some combination of Access databases and Excel spreadsheets to manage data.
- Having multiple data tracking systems in place meant clients were getting double counted, making it difficult to generate accurate reports reflecting the work being done across the agency. Such reports are crucial to securing funding in today’s nonprofit landscape.
- An off-the-shelf system was purchased to integrate all the data from Friends of Youth’s programs, but the difficulty of creating necessary reports led staff to search for a solution that would better meet their needs.
The Solution
- Friends of Youth staff turned to NPower contractor Richard Saunders of Gaia ICT who ultimately recommended a custom-built Salesforce database. Salesforce’s customizable system made it easy to modify, and therefore possible to create a user-friendly experience for staff in each unique program area.
- Having used an unsuitable product for the last 18 months, staff members were keenly aware of what they needed their new system to deliver. When the organization conducted a database needs assessment process they were quickly able to articulate their desired outcomes.
- The end result is Youthforce, a dynamic case management and outcomes tracking system that has been rolled out for several of Friends of Youth’s programs.
The Impact
- With a comprehensive case management system in place, staff are able to track the progress of their clients across programs, helping them to identify the characteristics of an effective treatment program.
- The communication between programs within Youthforce has been flawless, resulting in accurate reports that help inform service delivery and can be used to show community benefit to potential funders.
- The ability for Youthforce to automatically generate reports has resulted in a savings of hundreds of hours of staff time, allowing the Friends of Youth team to dedicate more time and attention to serving the youth that seek their help.
